Ms Bereneice O'Rourke:

It is a really good question. We try to match carers to suit the client. The majority of our staff across the sector are female and aged over 40. On the recruitment issues we have, I have never seen anything like it and I have been in the business a long time. Even before the pandemic, trying to recruit male carers, for example, was a real struggle. For the past two years in particular, most of my day is spent dealing with the issue of recruitment and how we are going to recruit staff. We place a strong emphasis on that gender piece to ensure we recognise the personal nature of home care and the importance of respecting the client, whether male or female, and his or her preferences. As all present are aware, the world has changed, and we have to move with that. We have done so. In fact, we brought in our own expert on gender equality to train up our supervisors who, in turn, do a lot of training on the ground with staff.